Round up of the week’s food 160508

On Monday I had spaghetti with aubergine pesto and vegetables, I used up some romaine lettuce in this dish and if you haven’t had cooked lettuce you really must give it a go!

On Tuesday I met my friend for coffee and lunch and we decided to go to a Mexican stall in the middle of our local shopping centre. I went for a salad box, which is basically everything I would have in a burrito without the tortilla. I like the salad boxes as you get more of the filling which is the best bit!

On Tuesday evening I decided to make some purple coleslaw with red cabbage, red onion, carrot, salad cream and mustard. I served it with a Quorn spicy burger and some fried potato. I love coleslaw and I wish it was easier to find vegan versions as when I make it I end up with a massive bowl and have to eat it for days!

So on Wednesday I had it again for breakfast with some avocado on toast.

I went for a simple sausage sandwich for lunch as I was baking most of the day. I used Dragonfly Soysages which are my fave vegan sausages. I microwaved them (for the first time) as I was using the oven for baking and I was really impressed with how they turned out.

I was baking as it was my Mum’s birthday on Thursday. Her fave chocolate is Bounty and she had asked me to make her some vegan versions when she saw this recipe pop up in her Facebook feed. This turned out really well, the only issue I had was where they had set they got stuck to the wire rack and cracked a bit when I tried to get them off.

I also made her some banana bread as I had ordered some presents online but they hadn’t arrived (and I had some bananas that needed using up!) I used this recipe from BBC Good Food and it was really easy. We always had banana bread growing up and this is the first time I’ve made a vegan version. i’m sure my Mum has made some for me because I can’t believe I’ve gone four years without having any!

We went swimming on Wednesday evening and popped to Tesco to pick up some food for dinner. I also picked up these Go On Pots from Alpro and you can read my review here.

Mum had some tinned seitan so wanted to make a stir fry. Tesco have a great deal, with veg, noodles and sauce for £3, (the veg on its own is £2). We went for a butternut squash stir-fry, rice noodles and plum and hoisin sauce. The sauce was nice and light and coated everything really well. This dinner took less than 10 mins to make and tasted gorgeous so I would really recommend trying out, there are various different sauces, noodles and stir fries available so you can do many combinations!

On Thursday I went into town with my Husband and we stopped at our local ice cream parlour. They do about six fruit flavoured sorbets so there’s lots to choose from. I went for cherry and lemon. My Husband took this photo and failed to tell me what a mess my hair was, but did say I had the crazy eyes!

We stopped in Sainsburys and I picked up a pizza from the counter where they make them fresh. I like doing this as you can request them without cheese. I did consider putting on my own vegan cheese at home but the toppings were so loaded I didn’t feel like I needed to. We also picked up some garlic bread. This is in Sainsburys Basics range and is 70p for two baguettes!

On Friday I went into London as my friend was leaving to go on maternity leave. Before I headed to the pub for a few fizzy waters I stopped at Simple Health Kitchen near St Paul’s Cathedral for lunch. I had seen a friend post a picture of her lunch from here on instagram and I had to give it a go! I had sweet potato falafel with quinoa salad, courgetti and avocado dressing. It was a big serving and was really filling, as well as being super tasty. The light wasn’t great so the pic is a bit fuzzy and I couldn’t get internet connection (in central London?!) which was a bit annoying.

On Friday evening I had the second half of my pizza and garlic bread so didn’t think it was worth photographing again!

On Saturday my Husband and I had lunch in town at a new peri peri chicken restaurant. I had a chargrilled vegetable pitta which contained huge mushrooms, peppers and aubergines. It was all really well seasoned and well cooked. I had sweet potato mash and chargrilled corn on the cob to go with it. The corn was the best I think I’ve had at a restaurant as it was charred perfectly!

Today I went to a vintage fair in Hackney with my Sister-in-law. There was so much on offer I think I had a bit of vintage fatigue by the end! I got a lovely dress and a top, which I’ll probably blog about once I’ve worn them, and I got complemented on the vintage dress I was wearing! We were really hungry by the time we’d finished so we headed over to the nearby Black Cat Cafe. I’m going to write up a full review but here’s a sneak peak of what we had.

It has been such a lovely sunny day but I am well and truly popped! I changed into my cool cotton pj’s as soon as I walked in the door and am now going to catch up on some TV. Have a lovely week!